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I close all the doors in my house in case of fire. Read this tip years ago.
We do this all the time. I know a firefighter who said he has seen rooms completely destroyed while the rest of the house was intact, or vice-versa, because the doors had been closed.
Glad to have it validated. It has something to do with limiting the oxygen the fire needs to burn.
Yes, and why they say to feel the door before opening it because if the fire is right there, you are opening the door to let the fire be sucked in and it will overcome you.
I turn off the water to the house and turn off the water heater. Heat is left running, but turned down just a bit, to prevent the plumbing from freezing. Air conditioning is left on, but set a bit warmer. That keeps the air filtered and dried to prevent mold and to filter out any possible wild fire smoke.
I only leave the lights on that are always on when I am home: the barnyard light, but not the porch light, and the low light in the bedroom hallway. I don't change the normal lighting and the house won't look any different. The window blinds are left as they are always set. Sprinklers are on a timer, so the lawn is getting watered
Insurance is carefully kept paid up and up to value.
Unfortunately, I usually take the barking dogs with me, so I can't leave that as normal. Not that they bark much, but they will raise a ruckus if anyone comes to the door or prowls around the house.
I normally get rid of food that will be spoiled (in the refrigerator) before we return. In the freezer, I put a bag of ice cubes. When we return, if the ice cubes are now a solid block, this tells me that we lost power long enough for the frozen food to thaw and then refreeze.
I leave my Texas house unoccupied for 7 months of a year. So, I clean it, mop and vacuum (would hate to come back to a messy house), change the sheets and cover the bed with a blanket. Eat or take out everything from the fridge that could get spoiled. Make sure there is no food left somewhere on the counters or pantry that could get spoiled.(potatoes, onions)
Change all my air filters and set the A/C higher (84F) - it's remotely controlled.
Close halfway my curtains, to there is still some light coming in (prevents mold build up). Do pest control outside and inside the house. Change batteries in my water detector units inside the house (they are wireless and remotely controlled), change batteries in water leak detector on my water meter.
I don't turn off the water - it's needed to water the plants.
No lights are on outdoors. (the house is basically invisible from the street due to many trees and high bushes).
Make sure that my indoor and outdoor cameras are working and on. All that stuff is also remotely controlled.
Turn down my water heater to "vacation" position.
I don't need to cancel my mail, because I removed my mailbox years ago and rent POBox.
I don't have immediate neighbors to ask them to park in my carport, sadly. But the house is situated on a small private road with minimal traffic to the other 11 houses there. So I am not worried for the house to be spotted or targeted by criminals.
My landscaper is coming 2-3 x a week to check on the house, water and trim some plants as needed.
A friend policeman is driving by to check on the house too. He is also my first responder if cameras or other gadgets would show activities (they are setup to share notifications).
I think I am set to be worry-free
When I had a little vacation house, I kept a written checklist of things to do when I left. I would do the items on the list. Then I would take the list and check each item off two more times.
Then when I was halfway home and started to worry about whether or not I had adjusted the heat or locked the back door, I would know that I had done it because I had followed my list and then double and triple checked two more times.
We have 2 cats, 2 dogs and 2 hens. I tend to get a house sitter since of all these pets. I'm still working. I work for the National Park Service, and we have interns that I hire to house sit most of the time. Where the interns live when working here, they don't have good WIFI and these youngsters all have background checks, so I leave them a key to the mailbox a remote control for the garage door and key for the front door. If no intern's I leave lots of food for the cat's and sometimes take the dogs with us and have the neighbor check for eggs.
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